US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to release the classified government documents related to the previously assassinated presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr.
Talking to reporters on Sunday at the Capital One Arena in Washington, Trump announced his intentions to declassify the records related to some historically important assassinations in US history.
Trump said his administration will “reverse the over-classification of government documents,” including those related to historic crimes, as “the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability.” He also mocked Democrats by saying, “It's all going to be released, Uncle Sam.”
The US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) holds around 50 lac records related to President Kennedy’s assassination in a single collection.
During the 1990s, the US federal authorities said it would make public almost all the records by 2017.
While the declassification of the documents has continued during Trump’s first term and also in Joe Biden's term, yet there are more than 3000 to 4000 highly classified documents that are yet to be released in the public domain.
In his recent announcement, Trump did not specify which documents would be released nor did he commit to a blanket declassification.
Trump’s scheduled inauguration on January 20 coincides with this year’s MLK Day, a federal holiday dedicated to King’s contribution to civil rights reforms in the 1960s, observed on the third Monday of January each year.
Trump has promised to sign a series of executive orders on a wide range of policies immediately after he takes office.
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